Solar-powered ‘Trashpresso’ converts plastic waste into tiles

The Trashpresso is a mobile, automated, and self-powered recycling plant designed to recycle plastic waste into beautiful tiles for design or construction purposes.

The Trashpresso plant is a solar-powered, twelve metre, transportable container that turns trash into trendy tiles. It consists of a processing line unit where plastic can be recycled into tiles, and a solar panel unit that provides renewable energy for the plant, removing dependence on an electricity grid. The plant is able to recycle any plastic item into tiles including bottles, cookie boxes, milk bottles, plates, and coffee cups. Even the water, used to filter the residue off the plastic, is cycled back into the process to almost eliminate the need for water input.

The Trashpresso’s output is twofold. First, it produces beautiful, upcycled architectural tiles from waste plastic that can be used for decorative or architectural purposes. In addition, it also serves an educational and inspirational purpose. The mobility of the container means that it can be toured easily to demonstrate the solution in different locations. The Trashpresso has so far toured the Tibetan Plateau as well as cities across China and Europe. By showing a beautiful product that can be created with relative ease, the company hopes to change attitudes towards waste. According to the company, the Trashpresso has recycled 12,600 plastic bottles (2,520 tiles) at the five exhibitions across Asia and Europe in 2017 and 2018.

“The Trashpresso overcomes the distance and energy barriers by showing that recycling is possible everywhere” – Arthur Huang, Founder and CEO of Miniwiz

Why you should care

As of 2015, approximately 6,300 million metric tonnes of plastic waste had been generated globally, around 9% of which had been recycled, 12% was incinerated, and 79% was accumulated in landfills or the natural environment. The company seeks to raise awareness of the damaging impact of plastic waste and shows how plastic waste can be transformed into valuable items with little effort.

How the Global Goals are addressed

Responsible consumption and production

It takes five water bottles or 50 bottle caps to produce one tile, and the company estimates that the Trashpresso can upcycle up to 50 kg of waste per hour.